Matt Hanson is Chelmsford board's rising young star

By Grant Welker, gwelker@lowellsun.com

Updated:
04/04/2013 09:36:05 AM EDT

Tuesday's ticket-topper in the selectman's race, Matt Hanson, shakes hands with Town Clerk Onorina Maloney, after being sworn in along with Janet Askenburg, center, who won the other seat, at Chelmsford Town Hall. SUN/Julia Malakie

CHELMSFORD -- It's a feat that could take other candidates years to accomplish, through serving time on other committees, building name recognition through time and touting job or public-office experience.

Matt Hanson, first elected at 21 as a Chelmsford selectman in 2010, was too young to play off those attributes. But he knocked on a lot of doors, made himself highly visible, prepared well for debates, ran a positive campaign, and made himself accessible, including putting his cellphone number on mailings sent to voters.

"I think it's a lot of little things," Hanson said Wednesday of what has made him successful, a day after his resounding re-election.

Hanson was the top vote-getter three years ago, a year after his first run for selectman.

HANSON AT THE HELM: The Board of Selectmen held its reorganizational meeting Wednesday night, unanimously electing Matt Hanson, seated at center as its chairman. Pat Wojtas, left, was elected vice chair, and new member Janet Askenburg was elected clerk. At rear, from left, are Town Manager Paul Cohen, Selectman George Dixon and Selectman Jim Lane. photo courtesy of tom christiano

On Tuesday, he matched the feat. In both elections, he also claimed victory in each of the town's nine precincts.

On Tuesday, Hanson, 24, beat runner-up Janet Askenburg, who was elected to the seat vacated by Jon Kurland, 2,084-1,699, a margin of 385 votes. In 2010, Hanson beat the next closest vote-getter, Kurland, by 570 votes.

Kurland was a strong Hanson supporter in this year's election.

"I think the taxpayers have been paying attention to how hard he's been working as a selectman," Kurland said. "I've been telling people, I think Matt's grown 10 years in the past three."

That maturation apparently earned him enough respect among his peers to be unanimously elected chairman at the board's reorganizational meeting Wednesday evening, where member Pat Wojtas was named vice chair and Askenburg elected clerk.

Advertisement

Kurland said another reason for Hanson's success is that he has gotten more comfortable in debates since his last run, and has done a lot of behind-the-scenes work as selectman with liaison assignments and other responsibilities, Kurland said. "It's just proof that hard work pays off."

Hanson first ran in 2009 -- when he was too young to sit down over a beer and talk politics -- and finished fourth out of six candidates, with 955 votes, about half the total of the top vote-getter. After that campaign, Hanson said, he learned the importance of building relationships with people.

Some voters told them they would have voted for him if they had only known him better at the time. So he held them to it, calling those voters and saying "you said if I ran again, you'd support me." He got more than three times as many votes, more than 3,000, only a year after his first run.

Accessibility has been a major part of Hanson's effort to appeal to voters.

He holds weekly open-office hours at the Java Room, and openly gives out his email and cellphone number. Some voters, he said, called him simply to thank him for giving out his number on mailings.

"It does mean a lot to people, that you're open and accessible," he said.

Hanson was a University of Massachusetts Lowell political-science student when he was elected as Town Meeting representative at age 19, and a full-time substitute teacher while finishing his master's degree when he was elected selectman in 2010. He got his master's from UMass Lowell in regional economic and social development in 2011.

Hanson was a program manager for the Lowell Police Department until earlier this year, when he became a television production assistant for Unit 51 Films, a Dracut firm. He started out part time for the studio at age 16, working the boom microphone, then worked his way up to cameraman, video editing, acting and directing.

Marge Hanson, Matt's mother, credited her son's "extra effort" he puts into campaigning. He does it not because he wants his name in the paper, she said, but because he truly cares about the town he grew up in. His people skills likely came from his father, Kenneth, a music teacher, she said. His interest in politics didn't become clear until his freshman year in college.

"He goes out of his way to make sure he's out with the public," said Hanson, a retired finance director. "I think a handshake and a conversation with someone goes a lot further than just a bulk mailing."

Hanson posted a statement on Facebook after his election as chairman, which read, "I promise to continue to work tirelessly with my fellow Board members and the rest of the community for the betterment of the Town of Chelmsford."

Askenburg also found early success in her first political campaign. In 2010, she topped the ticket in all nine precincts while running for School Committee. On Tuesday, she beat Patrick Maloney, a co-chairman of the Permanent Building Committee, by only 56 votes to claim the second seat on the Board of Selectmen.

"She's a go-get-'em girl," said Michele Manzelli of Summit Avenue, who voted late Tuesday at Town Hall, citing Askenburg's success on the School Committee. Her husband, Peter, also voted for Askenburg.

Another voter, Drew Harmer of Luan Circle, said he believed in Askenburg's values and fiscal responsibility. He voted for only Askenburg for Board of Selectmen, he said, because he didn't want other candidates getting a higher vote total as a result.

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sun. So keep it civil.